Ruling Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong (pic) died yesterday after holding the country’s most powerful position for 13 years. He was 80.
He died in the early afternoon “due to old age and serious illness”, the Communist Party said in a statement on its website, without elaborating further.
The statement cited information from Trong’s medical team, saying he died “after a period of illness, despite being wholeheartedly treated by the Party, the State, a collective of professors, doctors, leading medical experts”.
The country’s president, To Lam, had taken over Trong’s duties on Thursday when the party announced Trong needed to focus on medical treatment.
The party will need to decide whether Lam will continue as acting party general secretary until the current term for the post expires after the next Congress in 2026, or whether it will elect a new candidate before then from within its ranks.
Although Vietnam officially has no paramount ruler, Trong was the country’s most powerful figure as party general secretary and had been in the post since 2011. — Reuters
